Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 425 Rowena & Helga: Salazar, the organization has made its decision...

"If possible, I'd like to work as a librarian at Hogwarts," Rowena stated her condition.

"This position is already filled," Helga said with a hint of regret.

In fact, letting Rowena spend time in the library is a pretty good option. When she has books to read, she's a rather quiet woman.

However, you don't necessarily need to be a librarian to read books in the Hogwarts library!

"Hey, you're the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor now, right?" Rowena suddenly remembered something, her gaze fixed intently on Helga. "You've completed a full year, haven't you? What about that curse Salazar mentioned earlier..."

Rowena set her sights on Helga's teaching position, thinking she could help her friend share the burden of the curse.

"It's been taken care of." Helga immediately raised her hand, signaling Ravenclaw not to bother with her.

Even if the sky were to fall, no one could stop her from becoming the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor for the new school year!

Helga hadn't really cared that much about the job, but she couldn't stand so many people constantly talking about the curse. If she quit, wouldn't that be fulfilling the curse? More importantly, she and the old viper had clearly already solved the curse! If outsiders thought she couldn't break the curse because of Rowena, wouldn't that be too unfair?

"Fine..." Rowena reluctantly found a chair and sat down.

"How did you manage to do it?"

Helga told Rowena about how she and Salazar found Pandora's Box and Moros, and Rowena's eyes lit up.

"Salazar has quite a few interesting things on his hands now!" Rowena said meaningfully. "It would be great if we could get our hands on them and study them."

Helga glanced at her but didn't respond.

"Hogwarts has a lot of big plans for the new school year, Rowena, you'll definitely find a place to shine." Helga then turned to Ravenclaw and talked about the upcoming new school year.

"You've finally put your plan into action?" Rowena looked at his old friend with great interest.

"Yes, organizing a competition like this is no easy feat," Helga remarked.

Mr. Henry nearly worked himself to the bone this year to prepare for the global magic school competition next school year, going to great lengths to smooth things over. Now he's just waiting for the holidays to end so he can send out invitations to all the magic schools.

"We can finally prove that Hogwarts is the best magic school in the world—this competition, no, this grand event, is of paramount importance to us." Helga's eyes gradually hardened as she spoke.

"But what if the person who wins the championship isn't a Hogwarts student?" Rowena's voice rang out untimely.

Helga: ? ? ?

"How is that possible? Diggory is a pretty good kid, not to mention Salazar, you even have students to train—"

"What if other magic schools also have equally outstanding students? Helga, how dare you conclude that students from other schools are inferior to Granger and the others?" Rowena's expression turned serious, clearly entering a state of rational analysis.

"As far as I know, Hogwarts isn't the only school with a history spanning thousands of years. Do you think the founders of those schools are all dead?"

Rowena's meaning was clear: everyone here had lived through that era and was quite aware of their own limitations. If the three of them could survive to this day, other wizards could too—even with Horcruxes.

"What you said seems to make sense..." Helga frowned.

Indeed, she hadn't investigated other magic schools, so it's impossible to draw conclusions prematurely. There's still a chance Hogwarts might falter in this championship.

Helga's mood immediately turned serious.

"Don't panic." Rowena gave a mysterious smile. "Hogwarts is invincible."

Helga looked up, her eyes initially filled with confusion and bewilderment, which gradually gave way to understanding.

She stretched out one hand, put her five fingers together, and made a gesture that resembled a snake's head.

Rowena smiled and nodded. "Exactly!"

Hogwarts has an advantage that no other magic school can match: one of its founders is actually attending the school as a student!

It's like a group of people getting together to play board games, and one of them jumps onto the game table to declare himself a piece.

"Old Viper definitely doesn't want to participate." Helga knew Salazar well; she knew that making Salazar participate in this kind of children's competition would be worse than killing him.

"That's not up to him," Rowena said calmly. "He's a student now. Would he dare disobey the school's orders? Besides, we won't openly name him to participate in the competition. We'll definitely use a series of rules and regulations to 'trap' him."

Helga's eyes lit up: It has to be Rowena!

"As for whether he'll want to withdraw from the competition after participating..." Rowena's eyes deepened, "then we need to explain the pros and cons to him."

Helga's eyes narrowed with laughter. Rowena had barely stepped out of seclusion and already had a brilliant idea! Truly, Rowena Ravenclaw was a force to be reckoned with.

"There's no doubt that Hogwarts will win the championship," Rowena said confidently.

"But wouldn't that be cheating?" Helga frowned again. The purpose of the competition was to prove that Hogwarts was the world's best magic school, and that could be achieved by having the Old Viper participate...

Even if they ultimately win the competition through Old Viper, it won't be a fair victory! The fact remains that their students can't compete with students from other schools, and that won't change because of Old Viper's extraordinary performance.

Rowena, however, remained quite indifferent to this.

"Win the game first, then we'll talk about everything else. We've only been awake for a few years. We'll have plenty of time to train students in the future." Rowena was quite optimistic about this.

"Alright," Helga was finally persuaded.

"Next, I'll take you to see Dumbledore and try to get you a teaching position, and also organize the competitions for the new school year. How about that?"

"good!"

The two hit it off immediately and reached a consensus.

For Rowena, having just emerged from the dungeon, she was craving excitement and had boundless energy to unleash. From Helga's perspective, she was highly motivated to find Rowena something tedious and energy-consuming to keep the woman occupied and prevent her from coming up with any strange ideas out of boredom.

So the two of them were like the positive and negative poles of a magnet, and they were immediately attracted to each other.

After reaching an agreement, Helga led Rowena straight to the principal's office on the top floor.

At this moment, Dumbledore sat upright behind his desk, a rare look of weariness appearing between his brows. On the desk in front of him was a stack of letters as high as a small mountain.

More and more letters are flying in through the window.

The reason Dumbledore received so many letters was, of course, because Voldemort had returned. Letters came from all over the world, asking Dumbledore how to deal with it, or asking him about the details of that night, and some even inquired whether the upcoming World Wizarding Championship should still be held.

He needs to respond to each of these questions, providing explanations or offering reassurance.

This meant that Dumbledore hadn't slept a wink ever since he received news of Voldemort's appearance, a tremendous challenge for a wizard of his age.

Just then, his office door was pushed open.

Upon seeing the person who had arrived, a hint of joy flashed in Dumbledore's eyes: Ah, it's her! This is wonderful!

No one could excite Dumbledore more than Professor White.

Of course, Dumbledore also saw the witch following behind Professor White.

"And who is this...?" He looked at Professor White.

"It's my old friend, Arius, a wise and learned lady," Helga hinted subtly.

Dumbledore: !!!

He suddenly felt a blackout before his eyes, and it took him a while to recover after he leaned on the table for support.

There was no way around it; this news was simply too shocking for a centenarian who had stayed up all night.

It's not uncommon for someone Dumbledore's age to slump over a table and never wake up again; it's truly remarkable how he's fared.

"If you're tired, activate your domain; it'll make you feel a little better," Helga kindly reminded them. For wizards like them who possess elemental domains, activating their domains does indeed help alleviate fatigue.

"Thanks, but this isn't a suitable place to open my domain," Dumbledore politely declined Professor White's suggestion.

"Alright, you look a little tired. How about a hot cocoa to recharge?" Helga pulled Rowena to sit across from Dumbledore at the desk, casually pulled a delicate little wine glass from her pocket, and pushed it across the documents on the table.

"Thank you." Dumbledore took the cup, drank the hot cocoa in one gulp, and then felt a warm current surge through his body, which invigorated him.

"I've been incredibly busy since yesterday. Voldemort has reappeared, a new Dark Lord has been crowned, the Ministry of Magic is in complete chaos, and we also have to deal with the Magic Games... Sigh!" Dumbledore couldn't help but sigh at the end.

Being a school principal is really too difficult!

"The Dark Lord has ascended the throne?" Helga and Rowena exchanged a glance, a strange emotion flashing in their eyes.

This dark lord, could it be...?

"Look." Dumbledore didn't say much to the two ladies, but simply waved his wand and handed them a crumpled copy of the Daily Prophet.

Helga and Rowena quickly recognized the protagonist of the front-page headline, and then both of them started breathing rapidly as they tried to suppress their laughter.

"I really wish I could turn back time and ask him in person how he felt after learning that he had been crowned the Dark Lord," Rowena whispered in Helga's ear.

Helga: ...

"You better watch yourself!!!" Helga spat out the words through gritted teeth, warning Ravenclaw with a fierce snarl.

"What?" Dumbledore felt like he was hallucinating: Was someone talking about time?

"It's nothing," Rowena and Helga waved their hands together.

"There's no need to take Voldemort and the so-called new Dark Lord to heart; their own conflicts haven't been resolved yet," Helga advised Dumbledore to relax.

Helga's words had no effect; instead, they made Dumbledore frown even more.

"If it were just the original Tom, I wouldn't care too much. But the one who appeared that night seemed to have comprehended some extraordinary power, and the mysterious powerful figure who banished Tom is also worrying..." These were the two things that worried Dumbledore.

Voldemort's power had greatly increased, and the mysterious man's attitude was unpredictable; all of these things made it difficult for him to fall asleep.

"Someone will take care of him. As for that mysterious powerful figure, he's one of our people." Helga displayed an attitude that showed she didn't take Voldemort seriously at all.

"Oh?" Dumbledore raised an eyebrow, thought for a moment, and vaguely guessed what it was. A huge weight was lifted from his heart.

"That's good." Dumbledore's expression relaxed considerably.

"As for the competitions in the new school year, I think you don't need to worry about it. I've found someone capable of handling these matters for you." Helga stepped aside and gave Royna a formal introduction.

"She has an endless stream of ingenious ideas!" Helga introduced confidently.

……

After some discussion, Rowena left the principal's office with a contract and Helga.

After the statue jumped back to its original position, Rowena suddenly quickened her pace and took a few steps forward, leading Helga to a window. Here, a small platform was formed against the castle wall, where one could place things.

Rowena placed a crystal ball on the platform.

"What is this??" Helga was a little confused.

Rowena ignored her and instead began channeling magic into the crystal ball. Soon, a red light flashed, and Rice's voice echoed from within the crystal ball.

"Royna, what's up?"

"Your Excellency the new Dark Lord, you—" Before Rowena could finish speaking, another red light flashed in the crystal ball—Rice had hung up Rowena's "phone call."

Rowena and Helga burst into hearty laughter. The laughter echoed through the castle corridors, lingering for a long time.

With the conclusion of the Quidditch World Cup finals, the wonderful summer vacation also came to an end. The front pages of the newspapers continued to be dominated by the missing Voldemort, and students packed their suitcases and embarked on their journeys back to school.

Sitting in his compartment, watching the students outside carrying large bags and small packages, Rice yawned. For some reason, he felt the chairs in the Hogwarts Express compartments were particularly well-designed for napping. He felt sleepy as soon as he sat down.

Sitting opposite him, Daphne was staring blankly at the platform outside the train window, while Astoria took out a mirror and fixed her hair. Through deliberate secrecy, neither of them knew anything about the upcoming school year.

Just then, the train whistle sounded, and the train slowly departed, marking the start of the new school year.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Update delivered, goodnight~

(End of this chapter)